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Oceania Ranking Round - C3
North Shore City, New Zealand, February 17, 2008
Walker, Willers claim Oceania honours and Beijing berths
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New Zealand BMX stars Sarah Walker and Marc Willers dominated the second day of the UCI Oceania series at North Harbour. Walker (Kawerau) made it two wins for the weekend while Willers (Cambridge) bounced back from his disappointing fourth yesterday to grab victory at the North Harbour BMX track in Albany.
The wins virtually assure both New Zealanders of a place in the Beijing Olympics, with Walker retaining her ranking as world number one and Willers number two in the world. Both Walker and Willers lead the Oceania series, with Walker now assured of the overall title with two rounds remaining.
Walker was in a class of her own again today, winning the first two motos, cruising home for second in the last and was never threatened after jumping best from the gate in the final. From the outside draw she went outside Australian's Melissa Mankowski around the banking on the first turn and cleared out to win comfortably from the Australia with her compatriot Ziggy Cranfield third.
It gives the New Zealander seven wins from eight rounds in the Oceania series, and cannot be beaten with two rounds remaining in Penrith next month.
"It's great to have a perfect record and wrap up the Oceania series, and especially now that I know the spot for Beijing is secure," Walker said. "It means I can now fully focus on preparations for the Olympics.
"I am pretty happy with my form right now but I know there's a lot of hard work ahead of me."
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Mankowski was her closest rival. After finishing third in all of her motos, she edged out fellow Australian Ziggy Callan for second place in the final.
Willers was fired up today after missing the start gate in yesterday's final and being on the receiving end of the physical battle with his Australian rivals.
He found clear air in all three motos today, winning two of them and then cruising home in the last heat. Willers got the jump in the semifinal from yesterday's winner Jared Graves (Australia), the world No 7, while Brian Joliffe held out fellow Australian and world No 6 Luke Madill in the second semifinal.
Willers drew the same outside gate as in Saturday's final but this time he nailed the start, sweeping around the banking at the first turn to grab the lead and then he destroyed the field for an emphatic victory. Graves completed an outstanding weekend with second place today to go with yesterday's victory, with Madill third.
"I was definitely angry out there today. I wanted to make amends for yesterday," Willers said. "It seems that whenever I have a bad first day I tend to come out and win on the second day.
"I'm rapt to have won this and most especially to have the Olympic berth secure. It was a really hard final. It was so close down that first straight. I thought we would all end up in a pile on the first corner but I managed to get through."
Willers will focus on the SuperCross round in Adelaide in April and his preparations for the Beijing Olympics.
Young Australian Sam Willoughby completed an impressive double in winning the junior men's title for the second straight day.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Getty Images
- Kawerau rider Sarah Walker in action on the second day of the UCI BMX Oceania Ranking Series at North Harbour BMX track in Albany.
- Cambridge rider Mark Willers on his way to victory on the second day of the UCI BMX Oceania Ranking Series at North Harbour BMX track in Albany.
Results
Elite men Qualifying Moto 1 Heat 1 1 Marc Willers (NZl) 2 Kamakazi (Aus) 3 Jamie Gray (Aus) Heat 2 1 Jared Graves (Aus) 2 Matthew Cameron (Aus) 3 Alex Cameron (Aus) Heat 3 1 Brian Kirkham (Aus) 2 Luke Madill (Aus) 3 Billy Jolliffe (Aus) Moto 2 Heat 1 1 Marc Willers (NZl) 2 Kamakazi 3 Steven Wong (Hong Kong) Heat 2 1 Jared Graves (Aus) 2 Rhys Telford (NZl) 3 Akifumi Sakamoto (JPN) Heat 3 1 Luke Madill (Aus) 2 Billy Jolliffe (Aus) 3 Glenn Codega (Aus) Moto 3 Heat 1 1 Steven Wong (Hong Kong) 2 Kamakazi 3 Jamie Gray (Aus) Heat 2 1 M Cameron 2 A Cameron 3 Akifumi Sakamoto (JPN) Heat 3 1 Brian Kirkham (Aus) 2 Codega 3 Billy Jolliffe (Aus) Semifinal 1 1 Marc Willers (NZl) 2 Jared Graves (Aus) 3 M Cameron Semifinal 2 1 Billy Jolliffe (Aus) 2 Luke Madill (Aus) 3 Brian Kirkham (Aus) Final 1 Marc Willers (NZl) 2 Jared Graves (Aus) 3 Luke Madill (Aus) 4 Billy Jolliffe (Aus) 5 Brian Kirkham (Aus) 6 A Cameron 7 M Cameron DNF Jamie Gray (Aus) Elite women Qualifying Moto 1 Heat 1 1 Sarah Walker (NZl) 2 Ziggy Callan (Aus) 3 Melissa Mankowski (Aus) Heat 2 1 Tanya Bailey (Aus) 2 Nicole Callisto (Aus) 3 Krystal Cranfield (Aus) Moto 2 Heat 1 1 Sarah Walker (NZl) 2 Ziggy Callan (Aus) 3 Melissa Mankowski (Aus) Heat 2 1 Nicole Callisto (Aus) 2 Tanya Bailey (Aus) 3 Krystal Cranfield (Aus) Moto 3 Heat 1 1 Ziggy Callan (Aus) 2 Sarah Walker (NZl) 3 Melissa Mankowski (Aus) Heat 2 1 Ziggy Callan (Aus) 2 Krystal Cranfield (Aus) 3 Tanya Bailey (Aus) Final 1 Sarah Walker (NZl) 2 Melissa Mankowski (Aus) 3 Krystal Cranfield (Aus) 4 Ziggy Callan (Aus) 5 Nicole Callisto (Aus) 6 Victoria Hill (NZl) 7 Tanya Bailey (Aus) 8 Tania Carson (NZl)
